1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to telephone apparatus. More specifically, the present invention pertains to telephone cord apparatus which allows a telephone cord to be extended from or retracted into a wall mounting.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Telephone cords are typically provided with plugs at opposite ends thereof. The plug at one end of the cord is plugged into a wall receptacle and the plug at the opposite end is plugged into a telephone instrument. If the cord is of excessive length it may lie on the floor and be exposed to damage or cause people to trip over the cord. If the cord is too short, it limits the range of the person using the telephone instrument and/or the locations at which the telephone instrument may be placed.
Various attempts have been made to provide telephone cords which are extendable and retractable. While some of these devices, such as the one shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,117,456, do allow extension and retraction of a telephone cord they are relatively cumbersome and space consuming. In one device a telephone cord is mounted on a reel in a portable housing with plugs at each end. The cord is so wound that pulling one end out of one slot causes the other end to be extended from another slot. This device requires manual rewinding and is somewhat unsightly in that the housing is always exposed midway of the extended cord. None of the prior art devices provide an extendable and retractable telephone cord which can be permanently mounted in a wall and extended for connection to a telephone instrument, at most any distance within a room, while providing retraction capabilities when such lengths are not required.
The present invention provides extendable and retractable telephone cord apparatus for permanent mounting in a wall which has a housing projecting through the wall and in which is mounted a cord reel on which a telephone cord is wound. The free end of the telephone cord extends through an aperture in the mounting plate for attachment to a telephone plug. The cord is extendable and retractable upon rotation of the reel.
In a preferred embodiment, a spirally wound spring engages the cord reel biasing it in a direction which would effect retraction of a telephone cord. A catch and release mechanism allows the cord to be extended from the mounting plate, preventing retraction but being manually engageable from the mounting plate to release the catch mechanism to allow the cord to be retracted.
The telephone cord is wound upon the reel and each of the wires of the telephone cord at the opposite ends thereof are connected to corresponding discrete electrical contacts disposed at preselected radial intervals around a central drum of the reel. A fixed hub carried by a cover plate of the housing engages the drum reel and is provided with multiple concentrically disposed contact rings one for each of the discrete electrical contacts of the central drum. Each of the contact rings is connected to a wire which when connected to a telephone transmission line provides telephone communication through the extendable and contractible telephone cord to the telephone which may be connected by the telephone plug.